'Broadchurch' episode three blog: Who killed Danny Latimer?

Depending on your point of view, last night's (March 18) Broadchurch was either a frustrating hour of TV that crawled and snoozed along or it was another sumptuous hour of slow-burn entertainment that intrigued and unravelled brilliantly.

I'm firmly in the latter camp, but I can empathize with those who are struggling with the show. Every week new layers are piled on top of new clues on top of suggestive looks and winks. After the first three hours, it feels nigh on impossible that the drama will be able to pull together all the pieces of the jigsaw by the end of episode eight.

However, I will continue to do my best to pull together the spiraling storylines and secrets into some sort of cohesive whole and get to the bottom of the burning question: who killed Danny Latimer?

Episode three centered around Mark Latimer (Andrew Buchan) and his dirty dog ways. After his fingerprints were found near the suspected murder scene last week and his alibi had more holes in it than a string vest, Mark was taken in for questioning and he continued to lie and lie again until even the ever-cheery DS Miller (Olivia Colman) lost her rag with him.

It turns out that he's been bonking the foxy hotel owner Becca Fisher (Simone McAullay) on the sly and the hotelier confessed all to the police to give him an alibi for the night of the murder. That's good news for Mark. The bad news is that his wife Beth's (Jodie Whittaker) seen him having a late-night smooch with his bit on the side.

Arthur Darvill's vicar is going to be required to do a lot more hugging to cheer up Beth after this latest revelation. While we're on the subject, why does the Reverend keep poking his nose in? Is it just honest goodwill?

Mark's bed-hopping wasn't the only update in the investigation room. He also claimed that he'd been on a boat trip with his kids and that Danny had cut his foot on a hook. This was his justification for some suspicious stains on his vessel.

Boats seem to be a recurring theme in the show. Will Mellor's 'psychic' revealed last week that Danny had been taken on a boat. David Bradley's corner shop owner is the focus of much attention from the tabloid hack because he ran the Sea Scouts that Danny attended and because of the fact that he may never have been married, which in the world of tabloid journalism instantly makes him highly suspicious.

DI Hardy's sea-sickness must surely come back to haunt him at some point as well. If he doesn't end up in some sort of high-speed boat chase at the end, we'll be very disappointed. David Tennant best pack his sick bags.

Oh and of course there was the boat on fire in the middle of the sea at the end. That can't be good news.

One other unanswered question from the Mark Latimer questioning is who was lying out of him and Pauline Quirke's dog-walking, chain-smoking, generally-lurking Susan Wright. Mark claims that he was given some keys by her to fix a boiler. She insists that she didn't do that. He may be dodgier than Simon Cowell's fashion sense, but I'm inclined to believe Mark on this one.

Elsewhere, Will Mellor's mad-as-a-box-of-frogs telephone engineer has moved on from spooking out the police to stalking Beth. His spiritual guide has messages from Danny and he's compelled to pass them on to Beth. As her home life is crumbling around her with only her moody daughter, mute mom, cheating husband and dopey policeman for company, Beth seems willing to listen to his guff.

He must be tapping people's phones, but whether this is attention-seeking silliness or something more sinister remains to be seen.

Other new contenders for the murder are Mark's business buddy Nige (Joe Sims), who tells terrible lies and keeps a crossbow in his van. And DS Miller's husband (Matthew Gravelle) doesn't look like he can be trusted either. Maybe Hardy will get something out of him and her son when he pops over for dinner next week - an early contender for the most awkward dinner date in TV history.

- Someone on the Digital Spy forums has spotted a worrying similarity between Will Mellor's 'psychic' and X Factor blubberer Christopher Maloney. What are the chances Will's going to burst into Bette Midler by the end of the series?

- A lot of people picked up on the "strangled" line that Mark said to Beth during their bust-up in the bedroom. Do the family know that he was strangled? Or was this a big clanger of a clue?

- The newspaper editor continues to pop up in every episode, appears to be lovely and has no reasonable motive. Very suspicious.

- What on earth can the reasonable explanation be for owning a crossbow?

- "With respect Sir, move away from this desk now or I will piss in a cup and throw it at you." The line of the series so far.

- I know I keep banging on about timings every week, but I still think the clocks going at the Latimer house is significant. And Mark's alibi appears to cover him to 1am. But I thought he didn't get back until 3?